Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of electrical connectors, and more particularly relates to the field of electrical connectors for the simultaneous, isolated mass connection of individual multiple electrical circuits through a single connector assembly.
It is common practice in many industries utilizing electrical or electronic devices or equipment to make various electrical connections between different circuits or devices through mass termination connectors. These mass termination connectors generally comprise a housing made of an insulating material such as plastic, and have provision to retain multiple connecting terminals. The terminals are arranged in a predetermined pattern and have wires from different circuits individually connected to different ones of the terminals. The pattern of the terminals in the housing mates, for example, to multiple connecting pins in a second connector housing with these pins in turn being connected through wires to additional circuits or devices to be interconnected. After assembly of the terminals and pins onto their respective housings, and attachment of the proper wire to each of the terminals and pins, connection between the individual pins and terminals is made by engagement of the two assemblies in mating fashion so that individual pins and terminals come into electrical contact with each other along an insertion axis.
The use of such connectors allows various subcomponents of equipment to be manufactured in their component parts and to be quickly connected together at a later time, or to be disconnected for repairs, the later addition or change of components parts, and the like.
It has long been the object of the manufacturers of these connectors to provide a connector which can simultaneously connect many circuits in the smallest possible space, but without adversely affecting the performance characteristics of the connectors, such as the current carrying capacity, dielectric characteristics, mechanical strength and durability, and versatility. As in all industries, the manufacturers have attempted to devise a connector wherein standardized parts can be used in order to provide a customer with a device particularly adapted to its needs, but without the necessity of stocking a large inventory of specialized parts or the necessity of having to use more than one connector to comply with the needs of individual customers.
In general, different users of connectors require a different number of connections in a particular application, and possibly require a different current rating for individual connections. One of the approaches taken in the past by manufacturers to provide a user with an adequate current rating for each connection was to provide a connector wherein each of the individual connections had the same current rating and therefore all were made for the highest rating required in the connector. This added unnecessary cost to the customer in that the customer was paying for a more expensive connection for each terminal, when it actually only needed the high current rating for one or a few of the connections.
An alternate approach to solve the same problem was to use different terminals for various connections in the connector. However, this approach had the drawback of forcing the manufacturer to stock many different types of terminals, and required a procedure to select the various terminals and insert them in the proper position in the connector. All of this merely added to the cost of manufacturing the connectors, and in the long run may have saved very little as opposed to simply providing an overrated connector.
A further drawback of the prior art connectors was in the configuration of the housing and the terminals themselves. In general, either the housings or the terminals or both were complex and required more expensive tooling and assembly procedures than was desirable. For example, the terminals themselves were many times complex in shape and required intricate or multiple bending operations which added cost, complexity, and fatigue points to the terminals.
Thus, there has been need for a connector assembly with reduced complexity, but which has versatility, relatively low cost, and which can utilize a small number of different standardized parts to provide a wide range of connectors adaptable to various requirements such as the number of circuits connected and the current rating of individual connections.